>> you can start. >> my name is joe nolte. can i go ahead? good afternoon, commissioners. the final project with this location, i have no problem except for the kind of chill use with the potential liquor license with the store being open 24 hours. that is what is in your packet. having four cvs stores in the city already, only one selling beer and wine on 32nd ave.

the newest one on market street has automatic check out. how do you check it for liberalizes is with that type of check up? this in the conditional use -- as you see, this is the current ad for this week for the city, and this is a full page of hard liquor. on the other side, more liquor that they are requesting. so i have a question of that. originally, they did not do that kind of stuff in there advertising. i would prefer joe's get the license. the commission has denied liberalizes is in this area previously. seeking the commission to put conditions on the trader joe's license today, they listen to the presentation that they are

not seeking conditions, but i do not understand that because they are coming in front of you with the pack of four bookstores, seeking conditional use for the licenses. it is kind of -- the project sponsor is saying one thing, but the paperwork says something else, so that is why i'm addressing the liquor license today. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> linda chapman. i want to express concern about the fact that although it was obvious people did want a grocery store there, we were sort of blindsided in that they signed leases for cbs and trader joe's as a lot -- as opposed to a large, general grocery store. then, they held a public meeting with practically no notice at all for public input and

discussion. i happen to be on the block where i get the notices that are required within 300 feet, and i happen to be seeing the secretary of a knob hill association. i give it to her, and she notified if the people and i notified a few people, and those were almost the only people that were there at the meeting. this is a huge issue. the report indicates that there are 52,000 people within half a mile. there is no other store with and certainly more than a mile, i would say, and two buses to get to any of them. i have tried using the one out near fillmore. really infeasible with big bags and two buses, let alone all the elderly people and the fact that everybody walks. trader joe's, first of all, is a good store of its kind, but it is a specialty store with a very

narrow line of things and certainly not produce. luckily, we have other produce stores. i would get a better line of groceries just from big apple. it is kind of expensive. although it was expensive, it had sales and house brands, and i got certain things there and other things from the little store. trader joe's does not do that at all. even the products they carry, they run out of all the time. like the most basic thing like couscous. they may be out of it for months. they do not sell ethnic groceries except they might have a frozen enchilada or something. there are a tremendous number of people coming from other parts of nob hill who have limited incomes and who use ethnic products, none of which is sold.

the two liquor licenses are a question. one beer and wine license for the grocery store i could see. two licenses i think everybody objected to. nobody wanted cvs, that i heard. we have three walgreen's nearby. there is a walgreen's directly across from the hospital. and hospitals provide pharmacy things for people leaving in the middle of the night. we certainly do not need that. greening they just said we could not do it. they could do some engineering. that was something we wanted. i think the main thing is to get a proper store. >> thank you. >> my name is ron case. i am current chairman of norfolk neighbors. i wanted to say over the last few months, i will be speaking in favor of the development. we have been negotiating with

trader joe's and cbs, and i think mainly the big issue most people will be talking about is the liquor license for cbs -- we have been negotiating with trader joe's and cvs. they came back with some really creative solutions that would help our neighborhood. we have some real problems places in our neighborhood, and we felt this was a good situation for us. based upon their dealing with us, straightforwardness, they have talked to us, they come back and ask us what we would like to have, what we would like to see, we are in support of the proposal for cvs to be part of this. >> thank you. [reading names] i will keep calling names. if you heard your name, please start coming up to the microphone.

>> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a neighbor, and i'm very much in support of this proposed project. i do my primary shopping at trader joe's, and right now, i have to go down to bay street to shop. i'm very much looking forward to being able to walk to this trader joe's. i think having another pharmacy is not a bad idea as well. thank you. >> thank you. if you heard your name, if you could please start coming to the microphone. >> i lived across the street. i have listened to the people

here. my experience with trader joe's is quite different. i find it prices really reasonable, and basically, people take me now to trader joe's, and that is where i do most of my shopping. by some things where i have to go somewhere else, but there are a lot of people in our building, maybe as many as 10 who are old and disabled, but they really need something there. i could do with another drug store, too, because that is near walgreen's. it is two blocks down and then up. i'm really looking forward to it, and i hope you will approve it. >> thank you. >> hello. i have to say, sorry for my language barrier. i own a small shop across, and

experience which i have every day with customers asking me when they go to have a new grocery store across the street. so please vote in favor for the new grocery store. other ways, you have lots of businesses in that area regarding a liquor license. for the past year, i witnessed a few bars open there. i wonder why the liquor license for that bar was not the problem. and regarding competition, cvs would be good there because competition is always good for the city, so please vote in favor. thank you so much. commissioner olague: thank you.

>> i have been a resident at my address about a block and a half away for the last 30 years. right now, it has been devastating. in order to get food, we have to take buses. you have to go way out of the neighborhood just to get something as simple as meet -- meat. they apple is about the only place in our neighborhood where you can buy affordable groceries. they do not have a meat market. it is a little thing, about two feet wide, and that is about it. simple products like bread, juices, cat food is simply not available or very limited supply. you are lucky that day if they happen to have that particular product. whole foods is the only other place, and that is really out of my price range. we do not have any place to buy

groceries other than to go take a bus, rent a car, do something and go to the castro or to go way out into the cabinet just to get something very simple and basic like food. i wish safeway would move in. i wish it was another store. i wish we had more notice. we do not. what we have got is a store we can move in right now. let's let them move in. let's let the market get the prices down. let them go where they are. if we are going have to pay higher prices, we will have to pay higher prices, but at least we will have food to buy. something we do not have right now. if i need to have groceries, even if i have to go to big apple, i have no way of carrying these things home. i have to take a bus, and i can only buy one sack of groceries.

before, even i could take two bags of groceries and hike up a hill, but now, try taking something on the bus. it is virtually impossible. the inconvenience of it is not that it is just another block or two that i have to walk. it is hiking up a hill, and it is hard when you are old and disabled. it is hard when you're tired after a hard day's work, and the prices will be with the prices are, and with more stores in the area, there will be competition. it is going to be harder. we will have to be better shoppers. that is what we will have to do, but we have to do it now, so please, let them move in. commissioner olague: [reading names]

>> i have owned a business on pope st. for 35 years. i lived in the neighborhood. i can remember when the market was a cable car barn a long time ago. this is formula used legislation. i do not understand what it is being bundled as two. if the project were a minimal, there would be six or seven. would this be one hearing for all six or seven? i do not think that is the spirit of the way the legislation was. i think we should have two separate hearings about this. this has been going on for a while. polk street merchants have been going to some of the meetings. trader joe's has been to every one of the meetings, has had a representative employee.

cvs -- we have never seen an employee at any of the meetings. we have never heard from them. we have actually written, and all we have gotten our e-mails was just cannot in the last three or four days from the consultants on the project. cvs does not want to seem to do anything with this except for use a consultant. this is not part of our neighborhood. the polk street merchants does not have a problem with trader joe's, looks forward to having it. having cvs is a problem. we urge you to split this up as it should be. and consider each one of them. how many drug stores are there? how many grocery stores are there? these are two separate companies. they do not have any ownership altogether. i appreciate your time.

>> afternoon, commissioners. i have lived in the neighborhood since 1997. my wife and i enjoy shopping at trader joe's. we think it is a very good store. we personally welcome their location. but we feel there is more than enough pharmacies in the area, given the hospital that is within a stone's throw of california and height, along with multiple walgreen's stores. while i understand that the site is too large for trader joe's and that a business decision was made to partner with cvs for the site, i have a simple issue to raise -- beer and wine have got no business being sold out of a pharmacy. if you allow this to occur, walgreen's and other competitors will request the same approvals for their stores to be at parity

with cvs. cvs is a good marketer. they have the ability to lower prices to predatory levels to get customers in the stores, and i would like them to focus on what they supposedly do best -- being a pharmacy. beer and wine opens up a can of worms for the neighborhood and for the city. cvs sells a plethora of products. short of lawn furniture, you can get most anything. i'm sure the marketing people can come up with promotions and numbers that will make this venture work. they can work around the disapproval of a beer and wine application. but the state -- to state that beer and wine is a deal breaker, which is something we have heard -- that is suspect, and you should take note of that. i am in favor of trader joe's. i wince at cvs at the site.

i'm sure we can keep this a level playing field. i would like you to approve the project, but disapproved any sort of application for cvs to sell liquor. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. just a quick clarification -- in the letter mr. case said to the commission, he stated that lower pulp has not voted on this issue. his endorsement is his endorsement because it has not been voted on. we are always opposed to liquor licenses in our neighborhood because we are inundated with places to buy liquor. i just have a little graphic. that is where you can buy off- premises liquor in our

neighborhood. another large formula of retail chain pharmacy is neither necessary nor desirable for our neighborhood. there's already 3 chain pharmacies and one small health- care store within a few blocks of the site. when that large formula retail chain pharmacies also wants to sell liquor, it is even less desirable. our neighborhood, as you saw, is inundated with places to buy liquor. the trader joe's right next door is taking the license, it is not a matter of convenience. the person shopping at cvs does not even have to move their car. if cvs is allowed to sell liquor, how will we say no when the two walgreen's want to sell liquor in order to compete? also, the plan cvs to buy local liquor licenses -- i do not think it is a good precedent to set. san francisco neighborhoods have fought to keep their distinctive

characters. we do not want to become a strip mall type of a city. the product group has told us that there is no project without cvs, and cvs told us there is no project without a liquor license. as much as i do not want to see that site and the, and i understand the inconvenience it is causing many people, i really do not appreciate our neighborhood being held hostage in the name of corporate greed. the only reason they want a liquor license is to make more money. i strongly urge you to deny this conditional use. commissioner olague: thank you. is there additional public comment on this item? you can come to the microphone. >> i do not know if i know enough about the whole issue, but i do approve of the project. i think it is that it to have something there than not have something there. i think what i'm seeing is there's a lot of people that it

is just too far for them to go to get what they need. i also think it is just dangerous to have a big, and the building -- and the building in the area. i feel a little bit more safe when there is something there. this was the liquor license. they have always sold liquor there, so i do not know exactly what the issue is, but i do approve. thank you. >> good afternoon. good to see you again. i am concerned about this particular project for many reasons. certainly, we need a grocery store in the neighborhood. that is inherited. but i'm troubled that we only

have one choice as to what is going to happen with the rest of the space that apparently the grocery store cannot use. there is only one option given, and that is only cvs. we have tried to reach out to them, but as has already been stated, we have never met with an employee. at best, they will send a consultant. if that is what it is like now during this negotiating phase, what will it be like if they get in there and we had issues? we believe also that the 24-hour plan requires more discussion. we believe that two formula retail uses at this location requires much more discussion. there was a meeting between three neighborhood associations neighborhoodprado -- neighborhood associations,

prado, trader joe's, cvs. they talked about buying up problematic liberalizes is in the neighborhood, specifically two problematic with licenses. the problematic liquor licenses, to give you an idea of the information we were provided -- if we could do the overhead quickly -- i can hand is out to you if that is too hard to read. 1590 pacific -- we are actively trying to purchase this license. we will agree to restrict this license if purchased to a limit to the type 21. the location is slated to close upon approval of new tenant sherman williams. this will prevent a liquor store

from opening in this location. this location is the junk shop, which has been a very prominent liquor store in the neighborhood for 40-some years, but that is an idea of the quality of information we have been provided. seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors. also, other neighborhood associations are asking for more attention to be paid on this very serious formula retail application that we have in front of us. also, it was stated that once a week, they want to clean the sidewalk. i live a block away on sacramento, much quieter street. i have to clean my sidewalk every day. if they are looking at cleaning the site look every week, it shows they do not understand the neighborhood. and we do not want the neighborhood to become a strip mall. thank you. commissioner olague: is there

any additional public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner miguel: two of the public speakers had particularly interesting comments. one, the next-to-last speaker -- and i may not be quoting totally accurately, said it is that it had something than nothing. i will agree with that one -- said it is better to have something than nothing. i will agree with that one. but stephen phrase things very well when he said it should be two separate hearings. the prado group basically circumvented anything this commission or anyone else could do here they put the deal together where it is all or nothing, and yet, it is two different businesses, two different formula retail, so we are presented this fait

accompli, which i do not like. i hope i do not see it again. this is also very bad land use planning. the city had long ago decided that what such as this should be developed -- the lot such as this should be developed in conjunction with housing -- that blocks such as this should be developed in conjunction with housing -- daft for -- that lots such as they should be developed in conjunction with housing. i fully appreciate the neighborhoods concession in a way to taking what they can get

in a year rather than the three or four-year break down, in spite of it being that land use planning. i do not know if any of the other pharmacies is open 24 hours. sometimes, the concept of a 24- hour pharmacy -- there have been very few over the years in san francisco -- can work out well. i like the idea, obviously, of monitoring parking queues. the loading conditions, the hours, that sort of thing. the closing of the lower area of the parking lot after trader joe's was closed, but i cannot approve this in any manner whatsoever if there is a liquor license for cvs, and that is one of the reasons i am very

aggravated the ideas put together as a dual situation. i have no problem, truthfully, with the old license going to trader joe's. it is a standard part of their business. but i, and as most of you know, have been struggling for a definition. it is not a drug store. it is a mixed merchandise organization. does not have to, in my mind, have a liquor license. similar stores -- their own as well as their major competitor, walgreen's, exist without one. i do not see that you need one here. i absolutely do not think there should be one year. i think it was a nice puerto rico ploy, the concept of buying out -- buying up so- called troubled licenses -- it

was a nice pr ploy. that is great. reduced the number of liquor licenses in the area. as far as i'm concerned, there's too many there already, and it is not necessary. nothing we can do about putting in a more general grocery store. it is very difficult. i know. i have dealt in many areas, and this commission has heard in many areas the problems of getting grocery stores to move in two locations of san francisco. this is a constant problem, particularly the larger, more general merchandise grocery stores. i am pleased with the fact that the majority of the neighborhood is accepting a more specialized but good stores such as trader joe's, but i cannot go along with this if there is a liquor license at cbs -- accepting a more specialized but goods store -- more specialized but

good store such as trader joe's. so one speaker brought up a very interesting point -- this is in regards to the cbs facility -- regards to the cvs facility. i understand many have automatic checkout. >> we work in partnership with scott rutherford. i am the person who has been meeting with the neighborhood groups and to represent cvs representdo -- do represent cvs directly.